Could you please
give us an overview and future vision of the transportation
sector in Kazakhstan?
I cannot tell you about the whole transportation
sector but I can tell you about aviation. There
have been many difficulties in the aviation sector
since the break up of the Soviet Union. Sometimes
newly created airlines had only one airplane. In
general, the reputation of the aviation was not
of a high standard. Due to the poor standards, it
was decided to create an airline of European standards.
This led to the creation of Air Astana.
Air Astana is a very young airline company. Could
you still give us a brief historical background?
Air Astana was created in September 14th, 2001.
In August 2001 I was approached and asked if I would
like to be part of this new project but unfortunately
I was already working on something different in
Germany. Then I heard that another person had been
appointed as President and had started working for
Air Astana in November last year but he decided
to leave for personal reasons in April this year.
I was again approached in April this year and the
timing was more appropriate for me and as I already
had left my other company was able to join Air Astana
in May, just before the first flight that took place
on the 15th of May 2002.
You already told us that the first flight was
May 15th, 2002. Could you please elaborate a little
bit more about this flight?
The first flight operated from Almaty to Astana
and was met by Mr. Massimov, Deputy Primer Minister.
Commercial operations then started to Aktau and
Aktobe. The presentation took place on 10th of June
at Astana as this was also the Fifth Anniversary
of founding of Astana City. We were very proud and
honoured that the President of Kazakhstan, Mr. Nazarbayev,
came to the airport where we had two aircraft on
the ground for our presentation. The Chairman of
BAE Systems who own 50% of the company was also
there. They both made speeches and we were very
honoured.
Could it be possible to give us more information
on Air Astana's operations today? What kind of services
do you have?
We operate three New Generation Boeing 737s. Two
of them are Boeing 737-700's that have 20 business
class seats and 94 economy class seats. We also
have a Boeing 737-800, which is a little bit larger.
It has 20 business and 136 economy seats and is
mostly used to fly between Almaty to Astana where
we make 20 round trips a week. The Boeing 737-700's
operate 3 times a week to Aktobe and 5 times a week
to Aktau from Almaty with two services routing via
Astana that provides a link between Astana and Aktau.
We are also serving Dubai twice weekly. I see potential
on this route because people would like to go shopping
there and it would be very convenient. Besides myself
we have foreigners in the roles of Vice Presidents
for Engineering and Maintenance: Service Delivery
and shortly in the role of Flight Operations.We
have three other Vice Presidents for External and
Corporate Affairs; Finance and IT and Commercial
who are Kazakhs.
Could you please elaborate more on your clients?
In general, who are your clients?
To and from Astana, our clients are businessmen
and government officials. To the west we carry businessmen
and oil and gas people. To Dubai, there are mostly
shoppers and holiday makers. I would like to see
more people going to Dubai for short breaks - even
for the weekend. I think that we'll also have tourists
from Dubai visiting Kazakhstan which has much to
offer and very beautiful places to see.
You already mentioned some routes. Do you have
others, what about Moscow?
We commenced services to Moscow on the 16th September
with daily flights from Almaty and in addition we
provide three services from Astana to Moscow each
week. We fly to Sheremetievo Airport in Moscow to
Sheremetievo 1 Terminal which offers good connections
to points beyond Moscow.
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Our Moscow service leaves
Almaty in the evening and arrives in goods time
to let passengers have a good night in Moscow before
starting work the next day. Our Moscow service from
Astana, which connects with our flight from Almaty,
operates a daytime service for those passengers
who prefer to arrive during the day time. We are
pleased to announce the commencement of our most
recent route to Beijing, China that commenced on
the 3rd December. We serve Beijing twice weekly.
What plans do you have for the future?
Yes, we do have plans but we need more aircraft.
We wish to operate to Atyrau and Uralsk and are
looking forward to this next stage of our expansion
which will also give us the aircraft capacity to
serve other domestic and international points. We
plan to follow this with the introduction of smaller
jets or turboprop aircraft to serve the domestic
regional feeder routes.
Timing wise, we intend to built a good foundation
for our operations and then expand. We are not trying
to run before we can walk.
Could you elaborate on your competition? What
do you think about Air Kazakhstan?
I understand that following a Government decision
Air Kazakhstan will continue to operate and the
50% shareholding that has been owned by Kazkommertzbank
will be purchased by the Government. In Air Astana
we will focus on our own operation and improve our
business and look forward to our own expansion.
How do you situate yourself in the local market?
I do not want to sound arrogant but we are trying
to deliver a western standard of service both operationally
and to our customers which has previously not existed
in Kazakhstan. We are working towards the achievement
of JAR-145 with regard to our Engineering and Maintenance
performance and to the JAR-Ops standards. To my
knowledge there are no other airlines in Kazakhstan
that are working towards these standards.
Which are your most important routes?
The most important routes are between Almaty-Astana
and Almaty-Moscow. We are achieving acceptable load
factors on all our routes but would be happy to
see higher traffic volumes on the Astana to Moscow
route.
What was your biggest challenge?
Our most difficult challenge has been to obtain
all official approvals to operate to Moscow. We
have received excellent support from Mr. Nigmatullin
N.Z., the Deputy of Minister of Transport and Communications
with responsibility of aviation, who has greatly
helped us to operate.
Could you tell us about your professional background?
I have spent 35 years working for British Airways
mainly overseas where I had responsibility for both
commercial and operational areas. I have been fortunate
to have been involved in almost all aspects of airlines
except for flying and engineering. I have also spent
a further seven years as a consultant and my background
in BA and as a consultant has given me a great deal
of experience that I hope to be able to bring to
the benefit of Air Astana. The airline industry
I believe is a "people business" and I
believe I am a "people person".
Could you give a final message to our readers?
Kazakhstan is an extremely well kept secret and
I am personally delighted that through your publication
you will be able to tell people a little about the
country. It is a beautiful country but its greatest
attribute I feel are its people. Overall I believe
Kazakhstan has enormous potential in the years to
come. I very much hope that Air Astana will firstly
serve the people of Kazakhstan, secondly to act
as a good ambassador for Kazakhstan to the places
we operate to and thirdly through our efforts improve
the air transport scene and contribute to the developments
of Kazakhstan's economy and growth. |
